Well to answer your original question: "what is the best way to help the ride of my 48 Chevy straight axle truck".....several of the guys here (including myself) have taken a do-it-yourself approach to lowering and improving the ride of our straight axle trucks. I removed 3 of the original leafs (1,3,and 5 - 1 being the shortest leaf), ground all the ridges from years of use smooth, painted them and added poly liners between the remaining leafs. Lowered my truck about 1 1/2" and REALLY improved the ride. I've had IFS suspensions under old trucks before, and this is just as good, if not better.
